Alibaba Group Holding Limited (BABA) Upgraded at Zacks Investment Research

Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) was upgraded by Zacks Investment Research from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Thursday. The firm presently has a $179.00 price objective on the specialty retailer’s stock. Zacks Investment Research‘s target price would indicate a potential upside of 9.20% from the company’s previous close.

According to Zacks, “Alibaba Group is a Chinese e-Commerce giant which caters mainly to its native market. The company’s fiscal fourth-quarter results exceeded the Zacks Consensus Estimate on revenues but lagged the same on earnings. Also, over the last one year, the stock has outperformed the Zacks characterized Electronic Commerce industry. Alibaba’s strong core e-commerce business, its continued efforts to develop new products, international growth opportunities, strong financial positionand and growing cloud computing services are positives. However, macro headwinds, continued investments and increasing competition from Tencent Holdings and Baidu remain the overhangs.”

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A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on BABA. Vetr lowered Alibaba Group Holding Limited from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $175.06 target price on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $160.00 price objective on shares of Alibaba Group Holding Limited in a research report on Tuesday. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $139.00 price objective on shares of Alibaba Group Holding Limited in a research report on Friday, June 9th. BidaskClub upgraded Alibaba Group Holding Limited from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 10th. Finally, Benchmark Co. increased their price objective on Alibaba Group Holding Limited from $140.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirty-two have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $150.14.

Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) traded up 2.77% during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $163.92. The company had a trading volume of 56,840,344 shares. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $151.65 and a 200-day moving average price of $124.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $414.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 64.87 and a beta of 2.64. Alibaba Group Holding Limited has a 12-month low of $86.01 and a 12-month high of $168.00. Alibaba Group Holding Limited also was the target of unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Investors acquired 85,508 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 228% compared to the typical daily volume of 26,062 put options.

Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 17th. The specialty retailer reported $1.17 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.73 by $0.44. The business had revenue of $7.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.16 billion. Alibaba Group Holding Limited had a return on equity of 15.40% and a net margin of 27.51%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.74 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Alibaba Group Holding Limited will post $4.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alibaba Group Holding Limited declared that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Thursday, May 18th that authorizes the company to buyback $6.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the specialty retailer to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Profund Advisors LLC raised its position in Alibaba Group Holding Limited by 22.5% in the first quarter. Profund Advisors LLC now owns 69,586 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $7,503,000 after buying an additional 12,761 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in Alibaba Group Holding Limited by 68.6% in the first quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 5,505,442 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $593,652,000 after buying an additional 2,240,084 shares during the period. Intermede Investment Partners Ltd raised its position in Alibaba Group Holding Limited by 7.5% in the first quarter. Intermede Investment Partners Ltd now owns 503,672 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $54,311,000 after buying an additional 35,079 shares during the period. IFC Holdings Incorporated FL bought a new position in Alibaba Group Holding Limited during the first quarter worth $215,000. Finally, Sigma Planning Corp raised its position in Alibaba Group Holding Limited by 13.1% in the first quarter. Sigma Planning Corp now owns 3,508 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $378,000 after buying an additional 407 shares during the period. 36.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Alibaba Group Holding Limited Company Profile

Alibaba Group Holding Limited is a holding company. Through its subsidiaries, the Company is engaged in online and mobile commerce through offering of products, services and technology that enable merchants, brands and other businesses to transform the way they market, sell and operate in the People’s Republic of China (China) and internationally.